Moving Forward
by Banu Thebes
Summary: After the fight with Takamiya, Oga just wants to pretend it never happened. But he can't always play the fool forever. That's Furuichi's job, anyway. Written for the Beelzebub Christmas Exchange. [set between ch 224 & 225]


_Notes: This is my first fanfic so please enjoy and let me know what I can improve on!_

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><p>"JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!" Lamia yelled, causing Oga to fall back. "I can't help Furuichi when you're being like this." She checked the unconscious boy's pulse. It had worked. Akahoshi's demon had bound his souls and brought him back to life.<p>

"What the hell is your problem?" Oga asked.

"My problem is that I can't focus! JUST LEAVE!"

The next thing he knew he and Beel were thrown out of the room with door firmed shut behind them.

The delinquent had no idea why Lamia had kicked him out. Surely the demon doctor could handle a little complaint about needing to sleep. And Oga was very very tired. It was beyond the kind of sleep deprivation he'd get when staying up finishing Dragon Quest VII. This was the kind of exhaustion he'd only experienced last year when trying to pass middle school.

The heaviness seemed to sink into his body, settling into the teenager's stomach before churning into something awful. _WHY is she taking so long? Furuichi is sleeping in MY room so where the hell am I supposed to go? _He closed his eyes and slammed his fist against the wall.

He didn't want to think about it, but the images of what had happened last night were already replaying in his head. Takamiya's face, taunting him as he held his best friend's heart. _But he's alive. _Oga insisted in his mind. _All of this shit doesn't matter. I don't need to remember this. Beel is back with me. I showed Takamiya who's boss. Why can't I just sleep this all off? Furuichi's alive. I just need sleep. Everything else is fine._

A soft whimper coming from behind the door pulled Oga out of his retrospection.

Hastily he opened it to find the tiny medical practitioner in exactly the same spot as he had left her. Except now she was sobbing.

"If only I had given you something last time! Then maybe, you wouldn't have died…" Lamia wailed. "But, in the end I could barely help you…"

"This is why you kicked me out?" Oga interjected. His faith in Lamia was fading fast. She didn't even look up, her head was resting on her arms, being propped up by Oga's mattress.

"Oi," the teenage contractor elbowed her on the top of her head.

"OW!" She yelped. "What the hell was THAT for?!" she clutched her head. "You should be grateful I'm helping you two!"

"Oh yeah? Then why hasn't he—!"

A long winded groan was suddenly heard, interrupting them mid-fight. They turned their heads towards Furuichi, who had now opened his eyes.

The recently resurrected boy looked perplexed. Firstly, he didn't have his shirt one. Secondly, he had bandages wrapped tightly over his chest. And most disturbing of all, his arms and torso felt sticky to the touch, like it had been covered in jelly. A shiver crept down his spine. It took him a couple of seconds to figure out the medical mumus must have slithered all over him.

"How do you feel?" Lamia asked, rushing over. "Do you still hurt? I can give you more painkillers."

Oga couldn't really place the feeling of aggravation as Lamia babbled on. But it was something unnecessary.

"I feel fine, really Lamia! I…wait," His eyes widened "This is Oga's room? How long have I been out? What happened to Takamiya?" He tried sitting up but made him feel dizzy. "Ugh can I even leave?" he muttered, clutching his head.

"You're leaving? That's great, maybe I can finally take back my—OUWW!" Lamia punched Oga in the stomach.

Now that Oga had temporarily stopped being a dick, Lamia was stuck. Telling the facts was always better. However, who knew if Furuichi experienced any kind of PTSD?

"What happened was…" she began.

_"Nothing_ happened." Oga had already regained his composure. "You're here because…uh…"

"Actually Takamiya killed you." Lamia interrupted.

"K-killed?!" Furuichi said, taken back by what was just said.

"Yes." "No!" Oga and Lamia the answered at the same time. Lamia glared at Oga.

"Well whatever, you're alive now, the details don't matter." The delinquent insisted.

"You died, and," Lamia gulped. "Your soul split into three pieces." Furuichi's eye twitched.

"HOWEVER, due to the efforts of Oga, me, and that Akahoshi guy…you've been revived. Do you feel any different?" Lamia held her hands close to her heart, waiting for the patient to say something.

Oga could see his best friend's eyes widen with disbelief, then change into a squint of skepticism.

"Thanks but…I don't really remember anything." The white-haired boy admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Lamia collapsed out of embarrassment. "Hah! Take that! Oga laughed. "He's back to normal!" Clearly if the guy couldn't remember there was no point in hurting his brain asking pointless questions.

Furuichi rolled his eyes at his supposed best friend. _Such support, much emotion._

Though still grinning at Lamia's embarrassment, Oga felt a hell of a lot better. _Whatever, the whole ordeal is over, now we can go back to our normal lives again._ Beel, still fast asleep on his back, let out a small mew. _Well, almost normal lives._

Still embarrassed, Lamia excused herself to talk to Hilda, leaving Oga and Furuichi alone.

Oga darted his eyes over his friend's injuries, wincing at their sight. Despite how it looked, the injuries would disappear by tomorrow right? At least that's what he told himself.

"So," Furuichi wheezed. "Fill me in." The white-haired teenager had rolled over to his side, trying to face his friend without making an effort to get up.

Oga gave as brief a list of events as he could surmise. No need to talk about things that don't matter anymore, he thought, editing out the part of Furuichi's soul being eaten by parts of the Fallen Angels. Or the part of Himekawa double crossing everyone. He knew the more he recalled those memories, the more they were going to stay embedded in his brain. There was no way he wanted Furuichi to relive it either.

"So that's how Takamiya went down. Woah." The white haired boy couldn't help but be impressed by Oga and Beel's growth together. It wasn't like anything he had heard before.

"He never knew what hit him," The contractor boasted, immediately began picking his ear, keeping up the appearance of not caring.

"It sounds like it," Furuichi replied. He tried to imagine Takamiya's expression change into one of fear, but he couldn't. Instead, the image of the emperor knocking him down appeared. The tissues didn't work. "Y'know, I wish I could have—"

"DON'T!" Oga cut him off. "Don't you dare—-"The contractor shut his eyes, inhaled sharply and clenched his hands into fists. He didn't continue.

"Don't what?" Furuichi pleaded. Oga didn't answer.

Furuichi felt a whole lot more exhausted than when he first woke up. The details of what happened last night were hazy, but he could put together a picture of some of the events. In a weird way, he was happy Oga had stopped him. _I should be grateful I'm still alive, _he thought_. Even if it is due to that constipated bastard._ With this in mind, he found himself drifting back to sleep.

Oga came and sat down on the bed, jolting Furuichi awake again. The teenager was staring down at him intensely.

"There's something else I want to tell you."

Suddenly, Oga's figure loomed over him. He rested his hands against either side of Furuichi's body, and leaned in towards his face. The white haired teenager felt his heart being fast in anticipation.

He was used to his best friend hiding how he felt. It was just how Oga was, although he was getting better at it. He had Beel to thank for that. But right now Furuichi could almost see the mental wall Oga was struggling to go through. Maybe he needed a prompt, but the injured teenager was too tired to think of any.

"I…" Furuichi held his breath.

"… need SLEEP! Do you know how fucking long I've been up?!" Oga spoke, widening his eyes in hopes Furuichi could see bags under them.

Furuichi's eyes glazed over, dismissing all the hope he had conjured a minute ago.

"Your bed smells." He replied. "You think I want to stay here?" Oga clenched his jaw. Furuichi gave no fucks at his friend's intimidation tactic.

"FINE." Oga pulled Beel off his back and dropped the sleeping toddler on Furuichi's face.

"Oi! What the FUCK" The dark haired boy pulled off the blanket and wrestled with his friend for a few futile second until he was settled in bed with him.

"Oga what the hell are you doing? There isn't enough space—"

His complaints were ignored, because after the five seconds they had wrestled for dominance, Oga was fast asleep. Literally within seconds of pressing his head against the pillow and he was passed out. Furuichi was no longer lying on his back, but pressed up against the window on his left side, Beel having nestled himself somehow, between the two of them.

_Like a river*, huh…_Furuichi thought, feeling himself drift off to sleep. Sure, he could barely move, and naturally, Oga had stolen most of the blanket. But it wasn't so uncomfortable in the end_. A really cramped river, _was the last thought he had before falling asleep.

It felt like moments later, Furuichi was being shaken awake by an overwhelming force. His eyes opened to see a very eager and alert Baby Beel, patting and rubbing his chubby hands all over his face.

"Furuichi….why are you still here?" Oga asked groggily.

"I don't know," he groaned. "Why haven't you kicked me out yet?"

Oga stared at him. Beel had moved on from playing with Furuichi's cheeks and began finger combing through his hair.

"You know Beel is trying to play with you, right?"

"Let him," Furuichi muttered. "Like I care at this point."

Oga didn't know what to say to that, but he felt a little pang of guilt. He sat up to get a better look at his friend. Initially, Oga had believed Furuichi was acting just fine. But now, he could feel the waves of….of something hit him behind the eyes. Furuichi was just as tired he was. Fuck, Furuichi looked almost as bad as he did when he left to go soul-searching (literally) that morning. Sleep deprivation was one hell of a drug.

Oga beckoned to Beel, gesturing with his hands. The baby hastily jumped on top of Furuichi's chest before climbing into his arms. Furuichi grimaced for a split second before settling his expression back to normal.

The feeling of guilt swept through the delinquent's face. He frowned, trying to fight back any retort he would normally use to get back at his best friend.

"What?" Furuichi asked.

Oga opened his mouth but quickly closed it, thinking about the dream he had just now. He didn't want to go to jail. He didn't want the judge to sentence him for a lifetime of being called Bitch Ass Pussy Oga, and he definitely didn't want the attorneys' to leave him there without any defence. He didn't want any of the feelings that were rushing through his head at that very moment.

"I'm sorry." he finally said. "For what happened."

_So this is what was bothering him_, Furuichi thought, in awe of his friend's admission. He didn't know what to say in return. He knew what Oga meant; even in his least roundabout ways, his best friend was not as apathetic as he tried to be at times.

"It's not your fault. We were tricked, re—mmh!" Furuichi attempted to reply. The delinquent hastily placed a finger against his friend's mouth, before continuing.

"I'm not done yet." Oga said. He broke his eye contact and looked down to Baby Beel, who was also looking back up at him.

"These fuckers keep trying to target me, to bring me down. I can't let them win." Oga tightened his hold on the baby. "Whether it's the Solomon Company, or this Fuji guy, I'm going to blast them away. I'm not going to let what happened repeat itself, you hear?"

Furuichi's heart was racing. It was too much…too much of Oga being his manly himself, and he felt overwhelmed. A warm, radiating sensation crept through his body, settling on his face. Lying down wasn't going to help anymore. With a sharp inhale, Furuichi pushed his arms against the mattress and forced himself into a sitting position. Oga looked up from Baby Beel to see his response.

Furuichi was, well, not saying anything, but he was sporting a rather prominent flush on his face.

"Do you have a fever?" Oga asked, suddenly remembering Lamia talking about painkillers all those hours ago.

"Ah….n-no," Furuichi stuttered, holding his hands up to his face. Oga leaned in and pulled his arms away from his friend, to get a closer look at his face.

"I'M FINE!" The white haired teen insisted, turning his face away. "It's just that—"

He took a deep breath, and turned around to face his best friend again, with a straight face.

"You're seriously hardcore, you know that? And here I was worried…"

"You're pretty tough yourself" Oga replied, looking his friend straight in the eye.

Furuichi couldn't help but break into a grin. "You can't get rid of me so easily."

Oga found himself cracking a small smile in return. He could feel the uneasiness lift from his conscious, like something had stopped squeezing his heart. It was true, that Furuichi was alive and on his way to being fully recovered. And Takamiya was no longer a threat to either one of them. The fear still lingered in the back of his mind, but somehow the odds didn't seem so against him anymore.

"Why don't you go home," Oga said, breaking the silence. "I'll talk to Hilda."

Furuichi furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief. "Hilda's back? Since when?"

"Ah…for a couple of hours now."

"And you didn't tell me? She could have been really worried about me!" Furuichi began listing off his fantasy scenarios involving Hilda nursing him back to health.

Oga rolled his eyes. He should have expected Furuichi's interest in romancing women to make an appearance but it still catches him off guard. But as long as he can have this moment of quiet, it wasn't too bad of a sacrifice to make.

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><p><em>*In Japanese, the word for "river" is written as "<em>_川__". When a child sleeps in between their parents, the position is called a river. Blatantly taken from Dekichatta Danshi, a yaoi manga about two childhood friends who have to take care of an abandoned baby (sound familiar?)._


End file.
